I'm still learning how to stamp - and today I really wanted to try gradient stamping. I found a lovely suitable geometric design on the Lesly LS-03 plate, and my base is one of the newer Essence polishes I have received recently, namely Be Berry Now! For some swatches and thoughts, as usual, please go under the jump!

Essence 073 Be Berry Now! is one of the recent additions to the Colour & Go line. It has a nice creme formula, not thick and not too runny. I applied two thin coats - the pigmentation is good enough to reach opacity in one thick coat, but that can lead to air bubbles. I had a great time wearing this shade - it's been a while since I had something berry-ish on my tips! The colour looks different depending on the lighting, it can lean warmer or cooler.

And then I decided to spruce things up with stamping. As I've mentioned, this geometric design is from the Lesly LS-03 stamping plate. I saw a few different techniques floating around when it comes to gradient stamping - some advocate using a sponge, some do not. I just painted stripes of my black (Dance Legend Nox) and my purple (YSL Mauve Naif) onto the plate, slightly overlapping them, and then scraped away as usual. I guess it worked - now if only I could align my stamper better, I'd be all set.

To "pull the manicure together" I decided to add two vertical stripes to my pinky and index fingers - one with the YSL, another with the Dance Legend. I freehanded them with a thin nailart brush. As you can see, despite my hands being all wibbly wobbly, the image transferred with the Lesly plate is pretty crisp.